


Please, tell us how to improve

by amandajoyce118



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Libraries, Talk of zombies, University, but no actual zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2016-11-08
Packaged: 2018-08-29 19:55:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8503267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amandajoyce118/pseuds/amandajoyce118
Summary: “It says, and I quote, ‘the reference librarian is super cute and I think my teacher has a crush on them.’”





	

“All right, Sunday night, you know what that means,” Coulson called to his staff before clearing his throat dramatically and unlocking the box at the edge of the reference desk. He added in a mock drum roll on the top of the box for good measure.

“Great,” Daisy drawled, “my least favorite part of the week where everyone who took the _ free _ coding classes complains that I talk too fast.” She rolled her eyes, but hopped up on the counter anyway. “Let me have it.”

She wasn’t the only one who wasn’t particularly happy about what happened on Sunday nights. 

Fitz crossed his arms and leaned on the counter next to her, his near-permanent scowl already in place. While Daisy always seemed to log a few patron complaints, Fitz, on the other hand, never even seemed to register. In the two year’s they’d both been under Coulson’s employ, never once had a customer left feedback for him, and in fact, other than complaints about Daisy’s tendency to treat people like they were already experts in the free classes offered, the only other times they got any feedback were when an employee wished another happy birthday or someone was mad that the microwave in the breakroom hadn’t been cleaned out. It would be nice if people using the library actually appreciated them.

The rest of the staff gathered around them while Coulson pulled out the first card.

“Thank you for expanding the selection of graphic novels, but I wish you had more female superheroes. My daughter loves them.” Coulson sighed and set the card on the counter. “Working on it,” he muttered. The two cards that followed were also requests for more books - more cookbooks, more college prep books, and more books on tape.

“People do realize we need money for stuff like that, right?” Trip deadpanned from the other side of Daisy. “And that books are digital now? We don’t actually have books on tape?” Usually the life of the party, even Trip seemed to hate comment card nights. Or maybe it was the fact that he was in charge of the children’s section and had both arts and crafts activities and story time on Sundays, leaving him ready for drinks by the time the day was done. Fitz wasn’t sure.

“Sure,” Coulson answered, “but this gives us an idea of what people want.” He reached back into the box in front of him. “Last one.” Smirking as his eyes ran over the words in front of him, he nodded his head. “I think you guys’ll like this one. No complaints about coding classes this week. And the microwave is clean.” 

Coulson cleared his throat dramatically, which only made Trip laugh, Daisy tap her heels against the furniture impatiently, and Fitz shift his weight from one foot to the other. The rest of the staff didn’t appear all that enthusiastic either.

“You have thirty seconds before we are all officially off the clock, boss-man, and Trip buys us a round at the bar around the corner,” Daisy teased. “Better make it snappy.”

“It says, and I quote, ‘the reference librarian is super cute and I think my teacher has a crush on them.’”

There were a few chuckles from the staff before Daisy declared, “obviously, that’s about me. I covered the reference desk on Thursday when that field trip was in.”

“Trip covered it on Friday when those kids were learning how to do research papers,” Fitz pointed out.

“My man, you have the main reference desk shift. It’s probably about you.” Trip reached around Daisy to give him a high five, but Fitz shrugged.

“Elena works it almost as much as I do. It’s probably her.”

“Elena is pretty hot,” Daisy agreed.

“And what are Fitz and I?” Trip raised an eyebrow, accepting Fitz’s tentative high five with a nod.

“All right, everybody out so I can lock up. See you in the morning.”

Coulson passed the card over to Fitz as he spoke, and then turned to lock the box back up while everyone else gathered their things. Twirling his keys around one finger, Fitz’s eyes ran over the comment card. Regular cardstock, the usual satisfied boxes checked in purple pen, the card didn’t look like a prank. It wasn’t handwriting he recognized, so it wasn’t a staff member. The bubbly writing did look like something a teenage girl would employ. 

He shrugged again and placed the comment card in between some of the keys on the keyboard at the reference desk on his way to the front door. Elena would probably get a kick out of it when she started her shift in the morning.

-o-

The idea of someone finding _the librarian_ cute wouldn’t go away though. Fitz found himself remembering all of the students who had been in over the last week during his shift - there was an elementary school class who got to tour the library and see how books were checked in and out, there was the middle schoolers learning to write research papers, there were the high schoolers doing test prep (but they came in without a teacher), and there was that academic club that used one of the study rooms next to the reference section on Tuesdays. 

He found himself trying to remember who all the teachers were over dinner that night, breakfast the next morning, and even on his way into work the next afternoon. 

As he predicted, Elena was highly entertained by it, and she’d moved the comment card from its spot on the keyboard to the cork board behind the desk. It was right in the middle of it, held there with a bright yellow push pin that matched her top when Fitz walked up to the desk and stuck his water bottle and thermos of tea underneath.

“Looks like someone has a crush on you,” she teased him, bumping her hip against his as she handed over the keys and her radio.

“Me?” Fitz colored slightly and shook his head. “That’s got to be for you.”

“I don’t usually see too many teachers working the morning shift.” She grinned at him. “I bet it’s that one that does the trivia club with the college freshman? She’s here every Tuesday?” Elena nodded her head while Fitz shook his more vehemently.

“Maybe it’s for Daisy.”

Elena snorted. “That’s all she needs. Someone else with a crush on her. She already doesn’t know what to do with the delivery man, and the guy at the gym down the street, and Trip…”

“I’m sure she knows what to do with them,” Fitz muttered to himself, making Elena laugh louder than she was supposed to.

A chorus of ssshhhs echoed around them and Fitz hung his head.

“Sssh,” Elena echoed. “We’re supposed to set an example.” Fitz silently laughed with her, and got to work. 

His days passed uneventfully though as there were no field trips or research lessons scheduled for the next two days. Thankfully, he didn’t have to test his patience teaching anyone how to use a microfiche. Instead, he found himself copying pages for visitors, helping them track down elusive books that the library didn’t actually keep on their own shelves, and even spent a solid hour working with a graduate student who was bound and determined to find a specific article from the  _ Scientific American _ issues published in the 1940s. By Tuesday night, he already felt like the week had been going on long enough.

-o-

“Dr. Fitz. I’m here for -”

Fitz cut the student off with a smile. “Trivia club is meeting in the third room tonight, Miss Hannigan.”

“You know, after next weekend, you’re going to have to call me Dr. Hannigan. I defend my thesis this week.”

“Oh, really? Congratulations.”

Fitz offered her a tight smile and went back to logging requests for several books that the library didn’t yet offer, knowing that Coulson probably wouldn’t accept them anyway. The requests for fiction outnumbered the reference books 10 to 1. Coulson went out of his way to keep the people happy, and a book on the migratory patterns of South American birds wasn’t going to be something the majority of people needed to check out.

“Thanks,” Callie called over her shoulder as she carted her bags of trivia note cards and buzzers off to the meeting room, ignoring the stares of the few people left at tables with their laptops and books spread out around them.

Fitz offered the people who glanced over at him an apologetic shrug, trying to ignore the glares. He wasn’t about to tell Callie to be quiet. He had very specific instructions from Coulson to give Callie access to anything she needed. The local university’s trivia team had been meeting at the library once a week for as long as Coulson had been running it. The members of the team singlehandedly kept the coffee shop in the basement profitable and were the university students who most often utilized the reference section. In short, Coulson depended on them to keep them in business, and he couldn’t afford to piss anyone off, no matter who ran the group as the semesters turned over.

“You think she’s the teacher,” Daisy stage whispered to him as he submitted another request.

Fitz nearly jumped out of his skin; he hadn’t even realized she’d walked up behind him.

“Miss Hannigan -”

“Callie.”

“- isn’t technically a teacher. She’s a grad student who gets course credit for leading a seminar. She just does it for the money since she hates the students. She does the trivia team for fun. She says it lets her actually interact with the  _ smart ones _ .”

“You sure know a lot about her,” Daisy goaded, elbowing him gently.

“She talks a lot.” Fitz shrugged. He didn’t really like or dislike Callie Hannigan. She was just  _ there _ , like a lot of the library’s regulars. He could concede that she must be smart since she never needed help when trying to track down a periodical or reference book, and she was in a very selective graduate program, of course. But she also talked a lot and was always more interested in having someone agree with her than she was hearing their actual opinions.

“Okay, but do you think it’s her?”

When Fitz turned his attention to Daisy, she was unabashedly staring at the room where Callie had gone, watching her set up buzzers on the table through the glass wall. 

He mentally ran through some of his most recent interactions with her and the students in the trivia club. He supposed it was possible, but not probable. He finally settled on, “I think she has a boyfriend.”

“That doesn’t mean she can’t think you’re cute. What does Elena think? Elena thinks it’s about you too, right?”

The crackling of the radio channel saved him from answering as he and Daisy both immediately turned up the volume on their headsets to see who was about to call.

“Anybody got a twenty on Daisy?” Trip’s voice only sounded mildly annoyed. “She was supposed to be in to cover my dinner break 15 minutes ago.”

“Whooops.”

Clicking the button on his belt, Fitz smirked at her guilty expression and said, “I got her. She’s on her way. She says she’ll buy your dinner.”

Daisy swatted him in the shoulder as she clicked the button on her own radio. “I said no such thing, Trip.”

“My man Fitz would never lie to me,” Trip replied through the headset with a laugh.

Daisy sighed and began the trek to the children’s section. She turned halfway across the room to face Fitz and looked him square in the eye as she said as clearly and quietly as possible into her mic, “pretty sure the teacher with a crush on Fitz is here if anyone else wants to pay him a visit.”

Fitz’s cheeks grew hot, and he shook his head, trying to interject that it wasn’t true, but Daisy kept her finger on the button her entire walk to the children’s section so that no one else could reply on the channel, making his delayed response pointless as three different employees just happened to be dropping off reference books left in their sections to his desk before he could say anything.

-o-

By the end of the night, Fitz still wasn’t sure if Callie Hannigan was the one who had written the note, or the one the note was about, or anything else connected to the note. She flashed him a few smiles through the glass door as he helped people with their questions. And she even came up and asked him for a few books when she gave the students a break for snacks, even though he knew very well that she was smart enough to track things down on her own. But she didn’t seem overly flirty or particularly interested in him.

_ Did he just not know what flirting was anymore? _

The question haunted him for the next week. 

It had been… well, it had been too long to remember the last time he went out on a date. It was entirely possible that he didn’t even notice when a woman was flirting with him anymore. He decided to test out his abilities on a few unsuspecting friends to see how it went.

When he and Elena swapped out at the reference desk, he tried to give her a sly grin as she joked around with him. She cocked her head to the side as he joked around as well, and Fitz realized he had miscalculated as she muttered to herself in Spanish before saying to him, “Are you trying to flirt with me?” She shook her head, though she was smiling. “I didn’t leave you that note.” Grabbing her water bottle from under the desk, she hooked her finger through the strap on the top of it. “And you know I have a boyfriend… though Mack would be proud of your attempt.” 

She patted him fondly on the shoulder before she walked away, and heat crawled up his neck. He should have known flirting with Elena was futile. She knew him too well and there was no way she’d ever be interested in him. He needed a more receptive target. Or at least someone who was a bigger flirt.

When Daisy stopped by the reference desk on Thursday, he casually leaned on the desk, running one hand through his close cropped curls as she started talking to him. He did his best to laugh at her jokes, to look her in the eye, and then casually asked her what she was doing that weekend.

“I know you’re not actually asking me out, so what are you doing?” She leaned forward on her elbows and gave him her undivided attention.

“What? Nothin’!”

“Uh huh.”

She was silent as a man came up and handed him a slip of paper with a list of books on it, asking if they were ones he’d be able to find on the shelves. Fitz took his time pulling up each title and giving the man directions for where to find each and every one of them - except for the last one on the list, a biographical account of Margaret Carter.

“Are you sure you don’t have that one?”

“Sorry. It was checked out and never returned. We don’t have a replacement yet. I can put you on the waiting list for it.”

“Nah, I need it for this week. Thanks, man.”

Daisy was tapping her fingers impatiently on the desk, her dark purple nail polish shining under the lights, as the man walked away to find his books.

“What?” Fitz sighed.

“Tell me.”

“It’s nothin’.”

“Fitz, in the entire time I’ve known you, I don’t think you’ve ever attempted to ask me out. Or even flirt with me after the first week. So, spill.”

“You asked me if I thought it was Callie -”

“Who the note was about, yeah?”

Fitz cleared his throat, but lowered his voice, keeping his eyes on the computer in front of him as he started tracking just where the request for the Margaret Carter biography stood in the system. “I just… was thinking about it. And I realized that I wasn’t sure if she, you know, ever... “

“You can’t tell if she’s flirting with you or not?”

He flitted his eyes in her direction, and even though Daisy was grinning at him, she wasn’t laughing, so he nodded his head.

“Well, maybe she’s just not making it obvious.” She shrugged, but the grin was still in place. “Do you like her then?”

“Do I like her? I’m not twelve.” He scoffed and clicked the mouse in a series of checkboxes.

“Fitz.”

“No?” He sighed, stopping the pretense of his check to rub his hands over his eyes. “I just want to know since you all keep jokin’ that the note’s about me, that’s all.”

“If you’re not interested in her, it doesn’t matter if someone wrote the note about her for you.” Straightening up, Daisy stretched her hands above her head. “But I know you like to know everything, so… I’ll come and hang out here with you Tuesday. That’s when she’s here again, right?”

“Really? You’re going to do that?”

“Yes. Because not only will I get to make fun of you forever, but if it turns out you do like her, then you owe me for figuring out how to get you to ask her out without looking like a crazy person.”

“Nice to know you have so little faith in me.”

Daisy laughed, but Fitz didn’t mind this time, even joining her, as another woman walked up.

“Excuse me, sorry to interrupt.”

“Not a problem,” Dasy responded easily, giving a dazzling smile at her while Fitz schooled his features back into his professional smile. “I just like to annoy Fitzy here. I gotta get back to work.” She skipped off toward the room that housed the computers.

“What can I do for you?” Fitz asked, trying to keep his voice pleasant, but still inwardly cringing at the “Fitzy” Daisy had used. 

“I just got back from a conference, and the book I need for my class tomorrow morning got left behind. The hotel is sending it to me, but there are passages I need to use, and the campus bookstore doesn’t have any copies. I was hoping...”

Fitz tried to focus on the problem at hand, but the woman in front of him, even with worry lines creasing her forehead and hair that was frizzed from her repeatedly running her hands through it nervously, was, objectively speaking, gorgeous. He also had this itch at the back of his brain that was telling him he had seen her before, but he wasn’t sure where.

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do. What’s the book?”

She rattled off a title that made Fitz’s eyes widen as he typed.  _ The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time _ wasn’t something most people asked him to find. He scratched the back of his neck as he searched for the location of the three copies they were supposed to have.

Three? Really? Were that many people interested in the plague?

While he searched, she talked about the conference she attended and how, really, this was just a side project in her class as they discussed how diseases spread, and she was sure the students wouldn’t care if she didn’t use it, but she’d already prepared an entire lecture, and - Fitz interrupted her.

“We’re supposed to have three copies on hand… one is definitely checked out.” He paged through to the next copy. “One… has been missing for six months. Hmm.”

She huffed.

“But the third… should be on the shelf.” He was just about to scribble the number on a scrap of paper and send her on her way, but she looked so hopeful that he took note of the number himself, and then waved for her to follow him. 

She trailed behind him through the stacks to an area that didn’t get much foot traffic. Fitz made a mental addition to his to-do list as his nose twitched to make sure these shelves got dusted soon.

“Sorry,” Fitz mumbled when she let out a sneeze as they rounded a shelf. “Looks like we don’t get a lot of activity back here.”

She sniffed. “This isn’t where you ask me why a pretty girl like me is studying such a disgusting topic, is it?”

Since he was walking in front of her, Fitz couldn’t entirely tell if her tone was sarcastic-annoyed or sarcastic-joking. He was hoping for joking, but without knowing, he rushed through, “you being gorgeous has nothing to do with it. Plagues are terrifying.” He shook his head, stopping in front of the back wall of shelving, scanning the titles and numeric sequences on the spines of the books. “And all those immunologists and disease specialists? They test everything on poor, defenseless monkeys.”

“Oh, you’re one of those.”

Fitz turned and saw that she was smiling at him, so he didn’t respond. 

“To be fair, I don’t particularly like animal testing either, but it’s an unfortunate part of the process when developing treatments.”

“Right.” Running his finger along the next shelf, he discovered that the book in question was not where it was supposed to be. He sighed. 

“Bad news?”

“I’m just - erm - going to have to check the study corrals. It looks like someone might be using it.”

When he started walking, she fell into step beside him.

“So, are we just going to skip over the part where you called me gorgeous?”

Cocking his head to the side and pausing in his walk to the nearest corral, Fitz braced one hand on the shelf next to him, his fingers automatically searching for something to do, his short fingernails catching on the edge of the shelf. 

“Did I say that?”

“Unless you’re saying I’m hearing things?”

She raised her eyebrows at him, her smile growing.

Fitz smiled in return before nodding his head and chewing on his lip. “Yeah. Okay. Let’s find you that book.”

“Wow. That’s it?” She gave an exaggerated sigh while Fitz started walking again, but he was still smiling as her arm brushed against his every so often. “It’s always nice to hear that someone thinks you’re gorgeous, especially when it’s not a line.”

How did he end up here? He’d spent the last few days concerned that he couldn’t tell what flirting was anymore, wondering if he was the subject of an anonymous note, and here he was, walking around in the most deserted part of the library with a beautiful, intelligent woman, who was obviously flirting with him. 

“I’m not really good with lines,” he admitted as they arrived at the first study corral. Thumbing through the stack of books there, he found that they all focused on physics principles, no plagues, and gestured for them to keep going. He’d have to remember to come back and reshelve them before the end of his shift.

“It doesn’t seem like you need them.”

Fitz allowed himself a much wider grin at that, but then sobered up, putting on his stern face as the next study corral was home not only to a stack of books, but a pair of university students making out in the corner.

“Hey!” Fitz popped the flat palm of his hand against the wooden surface of the privacy corral that surrounded the desk. “Respect the books! If you want ta make out, do it in your dorm rooms, not where I work.”

The pair scrambled to their feet, grabbing their bags and disappearing through the stacks.

“A little harsh, don’t you think?”

“Nah. He’s got someone new to  _ study with _ every week. He just rotates where. He’ll be back. Probably near the meteorology books next week.”

“Another area in need of dusting?” She teased him.

“Yeah.”

Fitz picked up a book from the stack and held it out to her with a flourish.

“My hero,” she murmured. “Thank you.”

“Well, couldn’t have you disappoint your students.”

She nodded her thanks at him, but didn’t say anything else as she left him for the checkout desk at the front of the library. Fitz fleetingly wondered if she could be the teacher from the note, but dismissed it just as quickly. Despite thinking she looked familiar, he was fairly certain he’d never helped her before. He’d remember someone like her.

-o-

By the end of the night on Sunday, there was a lot more chatter than usual as the staff gathered around the desk and waited.

“Oh, you guys actually want the feedback this week?” Coulson pretended to be surprised.

“Don’t leave us hanging. I need to know if Fitz got another note,” Daisy told him, hopping up to sit in her usual spot on the desk. There was murmured agreement while Fitz shook his head and leaned against the desk next to her.

Coulson made a dramatic show of unlocking the box and removing a handful of comment cards.

“Let’s see…” He paused as he read the first one in the stack to himself before nodding his head and clearing his throat. “Summer is over. Why isn’t there a new reading list displayed in the children’s section?”

A collective groan rose while Trip raised his hand. “I’m on it. First thing when I work on Tuesday.”

The next two were the usual complaints about Daisy’s teaching style, which created another round of groans and Daisy’s, “they can complain when they pay for their classes,” in response.

Then there was a request for a few books by a well-known mystery writer that Coulson hated. Fitz’s lip curled up in a smirk as he watched Coulson ball that comment card up and toss it in the trash.

“Nope. We’re never stocking anything by John Garrett. If you get a request for it, you can tell visitors you’re not allowed to. If they have questions, get me. I’ll explain it to them.”

There was one card left and it seemed to Fitz that the entire group collectively drew in a breath in anticipation when Coulson started reading from it. He rolled his eyes. They were ridiculous. Sure, he had been wondering if there would be another comment too, but he wasn’t really expecting-

“So, is the reference librarian single? Because I’m really considering setting my teacher up. I think he’d like her.”

There was a chorus of “oooohs” around him and Fitz’s mouth dropped.

“So, clearly, it’s either for you or Trip,” Daisy told him. “Elena might be a little disappointed no one’s hitting on her.”

“She’s dating a man the size of a tank,” Trip shot back. “She doesn’t need to put anyone’s life in danger.”

“Mack? Please. He’s a total teddy bear.” Daisy grinned. “And you only covered Elena’s break once this week, so if it  _ is  _ you, that definitely narrows our window down.”

Fitz crossed his arms over his chest, but obediently took the comment card from Coulson when it was handed to him. The note was scribbled in the same bubbly handwriting and the same purple ink as the last one. It was definitely from the _ same _ person and for the  _ same librarian _ . He tried to hand it over to Trip.

“Naw, man. My money’s still on you.” Trip pushed himself away from his spot on the other side of Daisy at the desk. “I will see you all on Tuesday when we’ll see if Fitz’s teacher has revealed herself yet.”

“Enjoy your day off,” Coulson said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Come on, guys. I gotta lock up. Get out of here.”

-o-

By the time Tuesday night arrived, Daisy had dragged a stool out from the computer lab to perch next to Fitz’s reference desk, laptop settled in front of her, acting like she was completely absorbed in creating a lesson for  _ HTML Coding 4 _ . Fitz knew better. She was just waiting for Callie Hannigan to show up. Trip kept finding convenient reasons to pop by, usually dropping off books that were supposed to be shelved in his section. Once, he did bring by a woman looking for historical references for fairy tales instead of an actual volume of fairy tales. So, Fitz supposed, Trip was doing a better job at pretending to be completely invested in his job than Daisy was.

Fitz was busy submitting requests through the interlibrary loan system to track down a few books for people when Daisy jabbed him in the side with her elbow, hitting the soft spot just between two of his ribs.

“What. The. Hell.” He hissed, pausing in his work to turn to her. She wasn’t looking at him though, seemingly typing away at a plan for people to learn how to design their own websites. When he glanced back up, Callie was in front of him, a messenger bag over one shoulder, and a box, likely with her trivia buzzers, clutched in her other arm.

“Doctor Fitz,” she said with a smile.

“Doctor Hannigan,” he greeted.

“You remembered!”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you!”

She was excited and beaming, but Fitz still didn’t feel any kind of spark there, so he quickly added, “room four today. Room three’s already been claimed by a theater troupe.”

“Thanks!” She started to turn away, but suddenly spun back to face him. “I’m leaving early tonight, but one of the professors I T.A. for is supposed to stop by and finish up with the students for me. Will you send her my way?”

“Sure.”

Callie was striding to the room before Fitz could even ask how he was supposed to know who the professor was.

“There’s another teacher?” Daisy stage whispered to him when Callie was far enough away that it didn’t matter.

Fitz shrugged in response.

“And you didn’t even try to flirt with her, Fitz! How am I supposed to tell if she’s the teacher… what was with the whole doctor-doctor bit? I thought that was going somewhere. Wait, do you like to be called doctor in-”

Fitz was saved from having to hear the rest of that sentence as the phone rang and he dove to grab it before Daisy, though it was just one of the people from that morning whose forms he was working through.

“Yes, Donnie,” Fitz said after patiently listening to the grad student describe his predicament for the third time. “I’ve put the request through. I should know tomorrow if I can get a transfer copy for you. I’ll give you a call then, yeah? Great.”

He hung up the phone before the poor kid could even answer him.

“Did you just hang up on him?” Daisy asked with a giggle.

“What? No… he was done talking.”

“Ohmigod, you did!”

“What did you do?” It was Trip, popping up behind him, pushing a cart of returned books for Fitz. 

“Nothing,” Fitz muttered just as Daisy said, “he hung up on a customer.”

“Is it really a customer if he doesn’t pay for anything,” Fitz wondered aloud, half turned from his spot at the computer to face Trip.

“The man has a point,” Trip agreed, nodding his head and leaning on the cart. “So, what do we think about the teacher?”

“I don’t think it’s her,” Daisy admitted, turning around on the stool. “She’s cute, and nice, but she didn’t really seem flirty with Fitz. I was kind of hoping I’d get to watch him in action. I’m starting to doubt Fitz’s flirting skills. I think he’s out of practice. But apparently, there’s another teacher.”

Trip cleared his throat and gestured with his chin to somewhere behind Fitz, and Fitz, realizing that someone must have walked up while they were talking, did his best to put on his superficial customer service grin as he turned around, only to be faced with the gorgeous woman with a thing for plagues, who had a wide smile on her face.

“That explains it then,” she said, pushing her book in front of Fitz.

“Oh, the checkout desk is actually up front,” Daisy told her.

“Oh, I’m not checking this out. I’m-”

“-returning it. She grabbed it the other day,” Fitz finished, swiping the book from her and setting his computer to the check-in screen. She could have done that up front too, but he didn’t say that. “Did the lecture work out then?”

“Yes. Thank you. We move on to applying what they’ve learned about plagues to a possible zombie outbreak this week.” When Fitz glanced up to see if she was joking, her face was completely serious. “Zombies are popular. The students engage more when they can apply their theories to something as ridiculous as that.”

“I wouldn’t call it ridiculous. There are neurotropic viruses that-”

“-cause aggressive behavior in humans when the brain is compromised, yes, but-”

“-nothing that causes animation of corpses.” Fitz nodded, oblivious to Daisy watching their conversation like a tennis match or Trip’s amused smile.

“You know, the running theory is that a zombie virus could only occur if there were two viruses that somehow managed to join up.” Her smiling was even more dazzling the more she spoke about the possibility of a zombie virus. He shouldn’t find this so adorable.

“I did read about that. A virus would have to clone itself inside a human host cell that was already inhabited by another virus.”

“Yes, but the odds of the perfect combination of viral material occurring to create a zombie virus are-”

“-astronomical,” they finished together.

Fitz smiled and scanned the book into the system. “I just need your library card.”

“Right. Of course. Sorry.”

She handed it over for Fitz to scan, and he smiled at the name and signature that popped up in the little box on the screen. Dr. Jemma Simmons. He marked the book returned and added it to the cart Trip was still leaning on before handing the card back to her.

“Thanks, Dr. Simmons.”

“Of course… “ She made a show of reading his nametag, her eyebrows raising as she said, “Dr. Fitz.”

“Just Fitz. It’s fine.”

She tapped her card on the counter for a moment, appearing to be considering something before she smiled back and told him, “You know, if you’re really interested, despite plagues being, what was it you said, terrifying? I think it’s most likely that a zombie virus would only come into existence if the existing strain of a neurotropic virus mutated, became more dangerous for us as it survived current treatment options. It would have to overcome a lot of modern medicine to get to the state where it not only killed someone, but spread through bodily fluids, and was able to reanimate a corpse though.”

“Mutate. Like a flu?”

Fitz was rewarded for his question with an even wider grin.

“Precisely. Eventually, it could be treated.”

“As long as there was someone to research it.”

“Well, yes, there’s that.”

He liked the way her entire face lit up, even if she was talking about the possibility of a viral outbreak turning humanity into zombies. He also liked that she wasn’t shy about talking zombies with a complete stranger. Well, maybe not a complete stranger. He had found that book for her, after all.

Daisy cleared her throat pointedly next to him, but Fitz ignored her.

“Was there another book you needed for class this week?” He couldn’t think of a better way to get her far, far, away from Daisy and Trip. He could tell that they were both bursting to ask her about her library habits, her students, and whether or not she thought he was attractive. He might have wanted to know the answer to that last one himself, but he didn’t want them to scare her off.

“No, thank you. All of my other lecture materials are safe and sound. I’m actually here for - Callie!”

“Hey, Doc. I was heading down to the cafe to grab a cup of coffee. You want one?”

Daisy coughed next to him again, this time covering up laughter.

It was as though Callie had materialized out of nowhere. Fitz had been so focused on Jemma Simmons, he’d completely forgotten about her as a possibility just a room away. Dr. Simmons scrunched her nose up in disgust though, and Callie rolled her eyes.

“Right. Tea for you, then. I know you Brits are weird about that stuff. I’ll be back in five. The kids should be here any minute.”

He remembered now where he’d seen Jemma Simmons before. Nearly two months earlier, Callie had her helping with some sort of trivia tournament. Fitz had seen her out of the corner of his eye and spent most of his shift pretending he wasn’t staring at her. And then, he’d never seen her again.

Fitz watched in disbelief as Callie stuck a pen over her ear before flashing him a smile and a wink and walking away. The pen was bright purple. He was distinctly starting to feel like he might have been set up. Buy a library regular. One that he didn’t think really knew him at all. But maybe she knew him better than he thought.

“Callie has a physics degree,” was the first thing out of his mouth before he thought about what he would actually say.

“Yes…” Dr. Simmons narrowed her eyes at him. “A few actually?”

“But you don’t teach physics. She said she’s your teaching assistant.”

“Everything makes sense now,” Daisy muttered next to him. “I didn’t even get to do anything fun.”

“Erm - she took a couple of my classes as an undergrad and she wanted to get a chance to work outside of her field in grad school. I offered her a TA spot because, despite her physics background, she’s still my best student. She’s got a great eye for details that other people miss and her reports were always some of my favorites - maybe don’t tell her that though. She just finished one degree. I’d hate for her to jump right into studying virology without a break. Besides, she wanted the teaching experience.”

“Yeah. Of course. Her trivia club is meeting in room four. It’s just-”

“I know where it is.”

Despite her narrowed eyes and her repeated glances at Daisy and Trip, who must have been gesticulating to one another behind him, she was still smiling at him. She was also still tapping her library card in one hand, almost like she was nervous.

“If you guys need anything, don’t hesitate to ask,” Daisy cut in.

“Yeah, Fitz is manning the reference desk until closing tonight. He’s the best,” Trip added.

“Not at everything,” Dr. Simmons teased, widening her eyes dramatically. “What was it you said you weren’t any good at when I was in? I can’t seem to remember.”

“If you’re trying to embarrass me in front of them,” Fitz remarked, “it won’t work. They already know I’m no good at trying out lines.”

“Maybe you just need a really good one,” she told him as she walked toward the trivia room, shooting him one last smile over her shoulder.

“So…” Daisy started, the tone of her voice giddy with excitement. “We’re all in agreement that she’s the teacher, right?”

“Yep.” Trip clapped Fitz on the shoulder. “She seems like exactly your type.”

Fitz sighed. “I know.”

-o-

Eventually, even Daisy got tired of watching as Fitz darted his eyes from the computer screen to the private rooms. 

“Why don’t you just go see if they’re doing okay in there? I can cover the desk.”

“What? No.” Fitz stood awkwardly and gestured to the cart next to him that Trip had stopped by and added a few books to over the last hour or so. “I’m jus’ goin’ to put these back on the shelves.”

The majority of the books on the cart were, surprisingly to Fitz, focused on astronomy. He tried to remember if there was any special events going on that he should know about that would have led to a rush of people checking out books on the subject, but he had nothing. He rolled his cart right on by room number four to see Callie packing up her things and a couple of the students stretching while Dr. Jemma Simmons sipped her tea at the far end of the table. She looked up and raised her eyebrows when their gazes locked, and Fitz blinked, continuing his walk with the cart.

He was just placing  _ Cassiopeia and Deep Sky Objects _ in its rightful place on the shelf when a voice behind him commented, “Astronomy. Much less dusty than those other sections.”

Fitz didn’t need to turn around to face her to recognize her voice, so he nodded his head and grabbed the next book in line, slotting it into its proper space:  _ Greek Myths and How They Inform Our Cosmic Understanding _ . He could actually feel his cheeks heating up like he was a twelve-year-old.

“You know, I almost went into astronomy,” she continued conversationally. “I loved it as a kid, spent a lot of time with my father looking at star maps…”

“What changed your mind?”

“Mapping out how viruses work can help us here, now. Figuring out stars and solar systems and space travel… that can help us decades from now. I just thought - I guess I wanted to do the most good with the time that I have.” Fitz sensed there was more story there, so he turned around to find her staring pensively at him, but she brightened when she caught his eyes. “Besides, it’s always fun to see men twice your size stammer and feign sick when you start talking about all the orifices you can bleed from when you contract a virus that breaks down the most basic cellular structures.”

Fitz twitched his lips in amusement, picking up another book.

“Yeah, I can see where you would have fun with that.” Sliding the hardcover into place, he added, “Aren’t the students going to miss you back there.”

“Oh, they’ve got a five minute break to grab food or make party plans while Callie leaves.” She took a few steps toward him. “I just thought…”

“Excuse me?”

Fitz didn’t even try to hide his annoyance at the teenager who squeezed into the row next to his cart, making Jemma take a step back. She glanced at the boy curiously, but otherwise, kept her own composure, leaving Fitz thinking he should feel badly for glaring, but he didn’t.

“Yeah.”

“I’m looking for -”

“See Daisy at the reference desk. She can find anything you want. Faster than lightning with computers.”

“Thanks!”

“And here I had it on good authority that you offered better customer service than that,” Jemma murmured.

“Is he a customer if he’s not buying anything?” Fitz asked the question that had left Trip stumped earlier.

“Well, there is an exchange of goods or services in a library, so yes, I would say so, even if no money changes hands.”

Her smile was a cross between smug and amused, and it made Fitz relax a bit as he leaned on the cart between them.

“I guess I just have my favorites.”

“Good to know.” They stood there in silence for a few moments before she cleared her throat. “I was thinking,” she began, picking up where she’d been interrupted earlier, “if you were interested in talking more about viruses, my number’s in your system. Or not talking about viruses. Talking about anything really… Or not talking.”

She didn’t wait for an answer, squeezing past Fitz down the aisle and heading back to the students.

Fitz wasn’t entirely sure how he was supposed to concentrate on work after that, and he was fairly certain he’d placed most of his books in the wrong spots.

-o-

He lasted an entire five minutes after closing, sitting in his car in the parking garage, key in the ignition, phone in the cupholder, before he picked his phone up and ran his fingers over the screen. Fishing a post-it out of the chest pocket of his sweater, he unlocked his phone and put the number in before he could change his mind.

“Hello?” A voice, feminine, English, and a little tired, answered, and he smiled.

“Dr. Simmons?”

“Maybe.”

Was it possible to hear someone’s smile? Fitz thought so as he carefully placed the post-it in the now unoccupied cup holder.

“It’s Fitz.”

“Mm hmm.”

“I, erm, got your number from your library record.” She knew that, of course, because she had told him to, but Fitz still felt obligated to say it for some reason.

“Good.”

Fitz may have tapped the ceiling of his car in victory at her little laugh after that, but he wouldn’t admit it if anyone asked.

“I was wondering if you’d be interested in grabbing dinner tomorrow?”

“I can’t.”

“Oh.” Allowing himself a momentary bit of panic, he scrambled for something else to say.

“I want to, but I can’t. I’m proctoring an exam tomorrow night. Could we do lunch instead? Or are you working?”

“No, I’m free. Totally free.”

After deciding on a time and place and disconnecting, Fitz feverishly texted Daisy to beg her to swap shifts with him so he could have the next day off. It would be worth all of the teasing he would get from her.

-o-

On his way to the greasy spoon diner just off the university campus, Fitz received no less than seven text messages from Daisy, Trip, and Elena wishing him various degrees of luck. Trip’s were full of advice like not eating too much garlic, while Elena had sent him a list of talking points she thought would help him. Daisy’s advice mainly involved her telling him where all the cheap motels were in relation to the diner. And lots of winking emojis.

He turned his ringer off before stepping inside.

A sign urging customers to seat themselves was just a meter inside the doorway, and the booths along the edges were mostly full of university students with plates of fries and textbooks spread across their tables. Near the back, he spotted Dr. Simmons - Jemma - though, with a glass of coke in front of her, her laptop open, and her phone pressed to her ear.

“No,” she was saying as he walked up to the table and slid into the booth across from her, “do not let him talk you into giving him those points back, Callie. All of his sources were fictional. He tried to convince me that his entire argument, from the  _ Resident Evil  _ video games, was accurate.” She flashed a grin at Fitz, closing her laptop, and then said, “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

“Hi,” Fitz said, folding his hands in front of him on the table to prevent himself from tapping his fingers nervously.

“Hi.” She hurriedly put her laptop and her phone away, watching him as she leaned forward and took a sip from her glass. “I know it’s noisy in here, but it’s close to campus, and despite having a truly appalling amount of grease in the foods on their menu, they do a fantastic burger.”

“That sounds great.”

To be fair, Fitz probably wouldn’t have cared what his meal entailed at that point, as long as he got to have it with Jemma.

He had gone into lunch a little worried that they would run out of things to talk about, or that Jemma would want to talk more about zombies or actual viruses, ruining his appetite, but instead, it seemed they could talk about everything and nothing endlessly. Over the course of burgers and fries and way too many coke refills, he realized that he would likely never run out of things to talk about with her. She was interested in everything and had an opinion or a question about everything he brought up. He’d never been able to talk to anyone so freely before.

“Ugh, Fitz, that would be the absolute worst. Can you imagine what a mess they’d make of the stacks?”

“A monkey would be a fantastic assistant. They can be taught to recognize symbols. It’s only a matter of time before someone teaches them to read properly!”

Jemma laughed, probably picturing a group of monkeys shelving books. Fitz thought it painted a very satisfying portrait, but Jemma was used to monkeys in an entirely different context - for science. Jemma’s eyes shot to the side while she was laughing, widening when they met the clock on the wall.

“You have to go, don’t you?”

“I’m so sorry, Fitz. I have to take over office hours from Callie.” Fitz was completely prepared to say that was fine and he understood, but she reached across the table and placed her hand over his, cutting off his capacity for thought. “But we’ll do this again?”

“Of course.”

It was Fitz who then dug into his wallet to leave cash on the table, despite Jemma’s protest that she could pay for her own meal.

“Really, it’s an antiquated idea that-”

“You can pay next time.”

“Excellent.”

It almost felt like he was preparing to send her off on a cross country trip or something the way he dragged his feet as he walked her to her car. He couldn’t figure out why this felt like goodbye.

“So, how about we do dinner one night this week? When you don’t have an exam to run?”

“That would be lovely.”

Unlocking her car, Jemma tossed her bags into the back and turned around to face him, stepping squarely into the personal space Fitz usually didn’t allow anyone into except for Daisy and Trip, and that was only because they were both the kind of people who would sneak up on you and put their heads on your shoulder to see what you were working on before you even remembered to be alarmed.

“I’ll text you? For when we can do dinner, I mean?”

“Yes, lovely.” 

Jemma looked up at him expectantly, then with a short sigh, went up on her toes and leaned in, giving him ample time to back away or dodge her, but he met her eagerly, pressing them together in a kiss that was, in his opinion, far too short. But it was the kind that promised there was plenty more on the way.

-o-

Elena and Daisy both hopped onto the desk next to him, swinging their feet and laughing about a guy in Daisy’s HTML class who had thought he would be learning a very different kind of code.

“Do people still learn Morse code?” Daisy asked the room. “Is that a thing?”

Trip responded by tapping out a rhythm on the counter and nodding his head.

“What did you just say?”

Fitz grinned. “He said the purple dress is nice.”

“Aw, thanks!”

“Actually,” Fitz continued when Trip’s smile stretched from ear to ear, “he didn’t say nice, he said-”

“ _ Nice _ works,” Trip cut him off.

“Why do you two know Morse code?” Elena wondered before Daisy could comment.

“Because they understand that not everything can be done with a computer,” Coulson remarked, dangling his keys in front of him before opening the box for the comment cards. After a moment, a lone piece of paper was removed from the container. Fitz could see the purple ink as he lifted it into the air.

Closing his eyes, Fitz suppressed a groan. What if he had been wrong and it wasn’t Callie and she wasn’t talking about Jemma? Would this go on forever? Would the staff keep teasing him about it? Or would they lose interest?

Coulson kept his face impassive as he read the note, then cleared his throat dramatically.

“I just want to say you guys have the best staff. I’ll miss you when I’m not leading the trivia club next semester…” Coulson trailed off, and as everyone gathered their things in disappointment, he cleared his throat again. “I’m not finished.” He waited until the movement and grumbling stopped before he started again. “Also, I just wanted to remind you all that Fitz is off the market. Jemma really likes him. Tell him not to screw it up.”

Fitz scratched the back of his neck at the chorus of “Aws” that followed before asking, “is that it?” As much as he liked spending time with Jemma, he didn’t want to endure the joking and teasing that was sure to follow up that comment.

“That’s it. You are free to go.” Coulson heaved a theatrical sigh like a teacher whose students didn’t appreciate him, and Fitz made a beeline for the door. He had his own teacher to appreciate.

And to his surprise, she was standing outside of the library, leaning against a bike rack, two paper cups of hot beverages in hand while waiting for him.

“Hi,” he breathed, stopping short in front of her.

“Hi.”

He’d always thought it was cheesy when books described people as suddenly seeming like they were glowing or under a spotlight, the focal point of the whole universe, but standing there in the twilight, Fitz was pretty sure that Jemma Simmons was shining like she came with her very own sun.

He took the cup she offered him, but before taking a sip, asked her, “what’re you doin’ out here?”

“There was nothing on TV,” she joked. “I thought I’d admire the architecture downtown instead. Happened by, decided to buy you a drink.”

“I see.” Fitz took a cautious sip from the cup, discovering it was hot cocoa, spiked with something a little sharper. He gave a slight cough after swallowing. “ _ A drink _ ,” he repeated, causing Jemma to laugh. “Dr. Simmons, are you trying to get me drunk?”

“If it only takes one cocoa to get you drunk, I’m not sure you’re a proper Scotsman,” she deadpanned.

“Very funny. Y’know, not everyone from Scotland can drink their weight-”

“I was just teasing you,” she cut him off, playfully shoving him as the rest of the employees started filtering out of the doors. He watched her take a step closer to him, but didn’t say anything, waiting to see if anyone, like Daisy or Elena, noticed he hadn’t made it to his car yet. “Actually, the drink was in case you said no. I figured at least we could walk around or something.”

“Said no to what?”

She fidgeted, taking another step closer to him, and Fitz bent his head slightly to hear her. 

“Remember how I told you that I loved astronomy when I was little?”

“Yes.”

“There’s an exhibit, art not science, a few blocks over. A friend of mine did a whole series of paintings comparing the wider universe to the universe within.” Jemma gestured to her body with one hand, but shook her head. “I thought it would be fun.”

“Lead the way,” Fitz agreed, reaching out and taking her free hand with his own, letting her pull him down the block after she beamed and stood up on her toes to press a quick kiss to his lips.

It had been less than a week and this made date number four. He was going to need to remember to send Callie Hannigan a fruit basket.

Or maybe a new set of purple pens.

-o-


End file.
